The Legend of Vox Machina: To the Ends of the World (3x10)

Wow, okay, interesting!

Cons:

Do we think this is the most the show has ever deviated from the stream? I don't mean in the sense of anything particularly major happening that is just straight-up new for the show, but in the sense that this episode isn't... based on a cohesive set of incidents that played out on stream, it's really a lot that's totally new! I am putting this under "Cons" not because I think it's bad in and of itself, but I did want to mention that this season is making me realize, for better or for worse, that a fair percentage of my enjoyment of this show is the adaptation aspect, seeing how they chose to move things around and still hit all the important moments. Up until this season, even with all they did change, I never felt like a core moment I really enjoyed from the stream got dropped entirely, even if it did move around. This episode makes me pretty trepidatious that the Ripley kill is going to the twins alone, and that will mark the first time a major moment I was looking forward to from the stream simply won't be in the show at all. But we shall see!

This episode did feel structurally a little weaker to me for another reason - it feels like the momentum coming off of the Thordak kill is just sort of ground to a halt as the group separates off into their little mini quests. Now instead of the group racing to find Raishan and figure out next moves, it seems that Keyleth is the only one who even cares about doing that? I get that Ripley needs to be dealt with and that they need to find a way to wake up Scanlan, but it felt like the urgency just fell out from under me as a viewer when Raishan vanished and the gang didn't immediately set to chasing her.

I understand Keyleth's anger and I don't blame her for it, but her plot thread in this episode was honestly pretty dissatisfying to me. There was a mismatch with the stakes and what we were seeing her go through. This trial to learn the Earth Ashari ritual wasn't really... grounded in a strengthening moment for who she is as a person, if that makes sense? I kind of wish the stakes had been "find a way to defeat Raishan" instead of just "find out where Raishan is." Scrying is some pretty basic D&D shit, and turning it into part of Keyleth's big growth arc felt a little... I don't know, uninspired, I guess? Seeing her struggle to connect with this new form of magic didn't really hit as hard for me as it did with the Fire Ashari, and I think a big part of that is that the whole gang wasn't there with her.

There's this overall tension in my brain, here, where I understand that part of the gift of adaptation is that the whole gang doesn't have to be together for the whole story - unlike a D&D campaign, where splitting the party rarely happens and for good reason. It didn't really bother me in season two when Grog, Scanlan, and Pike started off the Westrunn arc while Percy, Keyleth, and the twins were in the fey realm. But here it's hitting a little differently for me, and I think it's because of that lack of motivation/momentum thing I was talking about before. Vex and Vax sneaking off to deal with Ripley without even checking in with Grog and Pike... nobody worrying about where Keyleth has gone or even mentioning going to find her... I'm fine with a story about how the group is fractured right now and going through a tough moment, but it felt like they all just kind of shrugged their shoulders and wandered off, which felt slightly off as a vibe.

Pros:

That's more negative than I usually get with this show, but I think part of what I'm noticing is that this is an episode with a lot of setup and not a lot of payoff, and that's just part of creating a serialized viewing experience! So I can't knock it too hard for being a bit of a transitional episode.

While I might be a little iffy about Keyleth's story, I did like the way she verbalized her quest towards leadership here. She's wondering how she's ever going to lead her people if she couldn't even get Vox Machina in line. And then later when the council rejects her proposal, she comes back and stands firm, expressing that being a leader isn't about just following in other people's footsteps. Her mother's journey is not her own. I loved her standing up for herself and getting through to them in that moment!

Then we've got the Scanlan plot, where Grog and Pike are distressed to find that he's not waking up, but then Pike has a thought: maybe Kaylie is the way to get him back to the land of the living! Comedy points for Allura's very brief appearance in this episode as Pike's ride to go find her, that really made me chuckle. Much like with Keyleth's story, this is mostly setup: Pike goes and finds Kaylie and is going to bring her back to talk to Scanlan. We'll have to see how that plays out in episode eleven!

And then the twins - despite my fear about how the Ripley fight is going to go down, I really did love seeing them two of them as a dynamic duo again. This has been a very romance-focused arc of the show, which I love, but I did feel like some of the other relationships were lacking. The two of them work really well together, but Vex's grief for Percy is getting slightly in their way, as she's rushing ahead without Vax's help, nearly getting herself killed. I like them slipping into familiar rhythms but with added context that makes some things harder for them. Vax is pretty hot as a super sneaky rogue character. I feel like most of the time on this show we get to see him zip around and be sneaky, but he doesn't get to be like... cool and suave and in disguise. So I liked that aspect too!

I'm excited to watch episode eleven because I think it'll play out what we've started to see set up in this episode - will Keyleth find Raishan? Will Scanlan wake up? Will the twins win out over Ripley? And I think knowing the other half of these plot beats will help to solidify how I feel about this episode. In isolation, it's a bit of a dip in terms of my personal enjoyment, but that doesn't mean I'm not still thoroughly enjoying the season!

7.5/10